Gregory John Norman is an Australian professional golfer and entrepreneur who spent 331 weeks as the world’s Number 1 ranked golfer in the 1980s and 1990s. He has won over 85 international tournaments in his career, including two majors: The Open Championship in 1986 and 1993. His company, Great White Shark Enterprises is focused on golf related industries and supplies including golf course design, clothing, and luxury goods.

His interest in the game started with an unusual offer to his mother that he caddy for her during a regular mid-week game. Following the round, he asked if he could borrow her clubs and set out on his own. What his mother could not have imagined was that the young boy who had never taken an interest in the game would become one of the greatest golfers the game has ever known.

Golf Career and Legacy

Greg Norman was one of the major figures in golf in the 1980s and 1990s, a player noted for his exceptional driving, his power and aggressiveness on the course – and for having terrible luck. During his golf career, Queensland-born Norman won 91 professional events including 20 US PGA Tours, enabling him to become the first person in PGA Tour history to surpass $10 million in career earnings. Perhaps this was the first sign Norman’s love for the game extended beyond the glory of eagles and birdies. Greg Norman was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2001. A six-time PGA Tour of Australia Order of Merit winner (1978, 1980, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1988), Norman was also the European Tour Order of Merit winner in 1982. In 1995, he was named as the PGA Tour Player of the Year and PGA Player of the Year. He is also a recipient of the Vardon Trophy, Byron Nelson Award, Old Tom Morris Award and Charlie Bartlett Award.

Business

Though he no longer plays much competitive golf, the Aussie has become a strong businessman off the course, building Great White Shark Enterprises into an empire that includes golf course design, apparel, development and production companies, merchandising and licensing, wineries, and even his own brand of beef. He is an important figure in the development of Cobra Golf into a major brand.

• Norman has devoted much of his time to golf course design and established his Greg Norman Golf Course Design in 1987. GNGCD has completed more than 70 golf courses on six continents
• Medallist Developments and Southern Cross Developments are his joint ventures in the real estate industry. They offer luxurious lifestyle villas and apartments and operate out of Florida.
• He became a wine lover in the 1970s while playing at tournaments in Europe. In the 1990s, Norman partnered with winemakers from Beringer Blass to launch Greg Norman Estates wineries.
• Norman and Australia’s leading beef producer, Australian Agricultural Company, have a venture to develop and export a line of Greg Norman-branded premium steaks and beef products.

Property

Greg Norman owns a $65 million ocean view luxury estate on Florida’s ultra-exclusive Jupiter Island, a favourite with some of the world’s wealthiest and most reclusive celebrities and businessmen. Norman’s spread, which stretches across the island, is 8 acres and has 16,000 square feet of air-conditioned space. The house includes a 50-foot pool.  The oceanfront estate features a pair of beachside guest cabanas, a grilling house, garaging for 17 cars and a 140-foot-long dock. The two-bedroom, two-bath guesthouse on the shores of the Atlantic estate is equipped with a living room, dining room, kitchen, gas fireplace, oak beams and hardwood floors. He also owns many undisclosed properties in England , Australia and U.S.A.

He owns the Greg Norman Champions Golf Academy, The 10,000-square-foot facility, the second largest of its type in the United States, is located at Barefoot Resort, and is also home to his restaurant, Greg Norman’s Australian Grille.

Norman has owned a succession of increasingly large and luxurious boats, currently he owns a $70 million yacht called the “Aussie Rules”.  At 228 feet in length, at the time it was the world’s largest privately owned aluminium and composite yacht.

Norman was an early customer for the Boeing Business Jet, which he had ordered with custom fitted bedroom and office. He is also the owner of a Gulfstream V which is a business jet aircraft and a Bell 407 helicopter.

Personal Life

Norman had a brief romance with British tennis player Sue Barker before he met Laura Andrassy, an American flight attendant. Norman married Andrassy on 1 July 1981. They have two children: Morgan Leigh, and Gregory. In May 2006, Norman announced he and his wife would divorce. The divorce settlement was finally reached in which he had to provide Laura Andrassy with a total of a staggering $105 million. It is one of the costliest and most talked about divorce settlements in history.

In September 2007, Norman announced he and American former tennis champion Chris Evert would marry. They were married in a multimillion-dollar event at the One and Only Ocean Club on Paradise Island in the Bahamas.  A host of celebrities attended the lavish wedding, including former US presidents Bill Clinton and George Bush Sr., singer Gwen Stefani and her husband Gavin Rossdale, and comedian Chevy Chase. The couple parted ways in 2009.

As of now, Norman is married to interior decorator Kirsten Kutner. They married each other at a private ceremony in Necker Island in 2010.

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Venus Williams was born on June 17, 1980 in Lynwood, California. Venus is Right-handed player. She has got 45 titles in her career and she has been on number 1 ranking in the world in tennis. Venus is highly accomplished professional tennis player. She is a very active female player and is known for her sensational fast serve, brilliant two-handed, strong volley, hard-hitting groundstroke and mind-blowing agility on the court. She is the first woman on the planet who received the prize money on par with her Wimbledon champion Roger Federer. She is the first black woman or the African-American woman won the World no 1 title. She has received a number of different tiles, achievements and the awards. Not only is this, she has received a number of gold medals at various games and competitions and holds an unbeatable record for the fastest serve by a female tennis player in the world.

Her name is Venus Ebony Starr Williams and is the sister of Serena Williams. Venus has played against her younger sister Serena in 24 professional match since 1998 out of which Serena won 14 matches out of 24. Not only is this, they played in the six grand slams out of which Serena won 4.

Early life

She is born to Richard Williams and Oracene Price. Her father was a sharecropper. When she was at the age of 10, she moved to Compton, California to West Palm Beach. There both the sisters attended the tennis academy of Rick Macci. They were very good in tennis since childhood but parents wanted them to focus on study work. But later on, when he realized the real talent he provide them coaching at the home only. She was in a 3 year relationship with professional golfer Hank Kuehne which lasts till 2010.

Awards and Achievements

She has a breakthrough record in winning the awards and medals. Overall she has won 22 grand slams out of which 7 in singles, 13 in women’s doubles and 2 in mixed doubles. Venus is one of the four women in the open era to won more than 5 Wimbledon single titles in the World. not only is this, the records says that between the 2000 Wimbledon Championships to the 2000 US Open she won 4 out of 6 Grand Slam single tournament. Venus won 4 Olympic Gold medals as 1 in single and 3 in women’s double. The two sisters have won a large number of titles than other female players in the World today. In the year 2000, at the Sydney Olympics she became the second player to win Olympic gold medals in both singles and doubles after Helen Wills Moody in the year 1924.

Her major tennis achievements include the fastest serve at 128.6 mph in the year 2011, according to the Forbes she was ranked #3, the highest paid female tennis player after Maria Sharapova and Caroline Wozniacki.

Richness

Venus Williams is one of the richest woman player in the World. Her net worth is $60 million. Though her most of the fortune is coming from the Tennis play but still she managed to look after many other ventures and is carrying her own fashion line “Eleven” and is currently the CEO of Florida based interior design company “V Starr Interiors”. Not only is this, she is the limited partner of Miami Dolphins (NFL) along with her sister. Venus is very famous for her bright outfits and the bold accessories. She is the ambassador of Gender Equality for the UNESCO-Sony Ericsson WTA.

Talking about her property, she owns a Palm Beach Garden. She bought this house in the year 2009 for $2 million. This exquisite property is located in Florida, USA. The mansion is built on a circular theme which includes a breakfast room, a circular foyer, a library and a well decorated kitchen and 4 master bedrooms. Her favorite holiday destination is Hawaii. Recently she was spotted at Hawaii with her latest boyfriend, rapper Common though she walk their frequently. She often raeh there in her best mood. She likes to donate in the money in good work and is involved in various different caises like Elton John AIDS Foundation which was established in the year 1992 and aims to support people infected with HIV. She is actively involved in the charity and hosted some charity nights. She is also involved in Great Ormond Street Hospital o London which is highly concerned in treating children suffering from rare and life threatning diseases. Another on eis Health Truth which works to enlighten women against the causes of heart attack. And the last one is Save the Music Foundation which is non profit organization which aims at the education provided in the USA.

Venus is recently spotted in a Stuart Weitzman Glittered Ballerina Flats which has a rubber sole. Not only is this she loves to wear other brands like the Louis Vuitton Miroir Speedy 30 Silver Handbag , which is avery famous bag from Louis Vetton and is made up of leather and silver finishing. She spotted in Rock and Republic, The Berlin Skinny Jeans which has embroidered finish and is made up of 87% cotton, 1.5% Lycra and 11.5% nylon and was spotted in Jimmy Choo Glitter Sling back Pump with a  narrow back strap.

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Net Worth- $180 million

Holding on to my breath, fingers crossed, eyes focused on the television screen, lips chanting something and within seconds, there goes a SMASH! And there he did it!! Federer won. I jump off my couch all elated and drink a beer. Well, not really beer but surely I go around screaming in joy. This man, Roger Federer, takes my heart with his smashes. A Swiss professional tennis player, he is ranked No. 8 by ATP and is regarded as one of the best tennis players of all time. Despite of holding place in our hearts, he also holds several men’s world records of the Opera Era and held No. 1 position for nearly 302 weeks from 2004 to 2008. Winning 17 Grand Slam singles titles and managing to reach in the finals of each Grand Slam 5 times at least along with reaching the finals of Wimbledon 8 times, makes him the flagship of this sport. A dominant player since years, who even swept off the other heroes like Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, Federer or FedEx (Federer Express) as he is referred to, remains the soul of tennis. He has been inspired by some great names and acts as an inspiration to many of us.

Personal life

Federer was born in Basel, Switzerland at the Basel Cantonal Hospital but grew up in Birsfelden, Riehan. His father, Robert Federer, is a Swiss and mother, Lynette Federer, is a South African and as expected, he holds both Swiss and South African citizenship. He has an elder sister, Diana. Having said that, he is fluent in Swiss, French and English with German as his native language. Federer was raised as a Roman Catholic and he was subject to compulsory military service in the Swiss Armed Forces. However, he had to quit due to a severe back problem. Federer is also a football fan and grew up supporting Swiss National Football team. Not to forget his interest in cricket after having met Sachin Tendulkar. He used to play a lot of badminton and basketball for hand-eye coordination.

His wedding took place on the 11^th of April, 2009 with his long-term girlfriend and former Women’s Tennis Association player Mirka Vavrinec in the presence of a small circle of close friends and family. They have two identical twin girls and are now expecting a third child in 2014.

Philanthropy

When it comes to charity, Federer is no behind as he happens to supports a number of charities. To help the disadvantaged people and also to promote sports among people, he and his mother Lynette founded the Roger Federer Foundation in 2003. By auctioning his racquet in 2005, Federer helped the victims of the monstrous Hurricane Katrina from his US Open championship. At the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, 2005, he had arranged an exhibition that included top players from ATP and WTP tours to a Rally for Relief. This was done for the tsunami affected victims in the coastal regions of Tamil Nadu and South Africa. Did you know he was also appointed as a Goodwill Ambassador by UNICEF in 2006? He made one of the biggest contributions in response to the 2010 Haiti Earthquake by joining hands with fellow top tennis players and by forming a charity event called ‘Hit for Haiti’ while forgoing their final day preparation of 2019 Australian Open in which the proceeds went to the victims. The World Economic Forum named him Global Young Leader of 2010 for his leadership and the various contributions he made to the society.

Career

In the initial years, Federer first came up at Wimbledon in 1998 where he won both the boy’s singles over Irakli Labadze and defeated Andy Ram and Michaël Llodra by teaming up with Oliver Rochus. Additionally, he won four ITF junior singles tournament including the prestigious Orange Bowl. He entered 1998 as the No. 1 junior world ranking as a professional where we could say his journey started. He made his breakthrough in 2000 at the Marseille Open where initially he lost to Marc Rosset but later as he grew technique, he came up leaps and bounds and defeated Monica Seles and Jan Michael Gambill in the finals of Hopman, 2001. The remarkable victory which has put him in the top 10 for the first time was the Master series even at the 2002 Hamburg Maters by defeating Marat Safin. He won his first even Grand Slam singles at the Wimbledon in 2003. He made it to the ATP tours stepping in to 9 final rounds winning only 7 of them. The years from 2008 to 2013 were under his dominance winning several singles title and defeating many in the doubles by pairing up with some of the top notched players including Rafael Nadal, who is also considered to be his rival. He grabbed most of the Grand Slam titles than any other men’s singles.

Endorsements

Federer is regarded as one of the highest earning athletes in the world and according to the Forbes World’s Highest Paid Athletes, he is listed number two. Not quite surprising to hear that he earns 40-50 million euros a year from his prize money that he receives and also the endorsements  from companies like Nike, Rolex, Lindt, etc. As a matter of fact, in 2013, he remained the top 10 earner in tennis with ten endorsement deals. He has many other sponsors and earlier, he was an ambassador for NetJets and Maurice Lacroix.

Treasures

Apart from the properties in Switzerland, Federer owns a luxurious apartment in Dubai. The reason for choosing such a location was because he wanted to train himself getting used to different weather conditions. Also, a carp carpa villa was bought in Switzerland in a village called Valbella. This house was bought in 2008 in a ski region, a spacious house with all modern facilities including a tennis court. He also owns an expensive penthouse apartment in Zurich. Not to forget the ninth most expensive legal-street silver color car that he owns- Mercedes Benz SLS AMG Roadster.

Hobbies

This is interesting to know that Federer usually spends his time with his family in a water sport especially swimming. It is found that he enjoys swimming as he believes it keeps him mentally fit and healthy. Adding to that, tennis has always been his passion and is also seen playing tennis in his leisure time. His love for Swiss mountains is exhilarating. He said that he loves going to the mountains with his family whenever possible. He is also a regular visitor of Maldives.

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